The Sniper

by Kimberly Van Meter

  “Who?”

  “Tom.”

  She gasped. “Tom? Where did you see Tom?” At his stubborn set of his jaw she knew he’d gone to Tom in spite of promising that he wouldn’t. “I knew you were lying to me,” she said with a hurt tone. “Why?”

  “Focus, Jaci! Tom is dead and he was killed in his own house. He was just about to tell me who was in on this scheme and then bam! A bullet went slamming through his brain, ending his confession.”

  “He was confessing? To what? Trying to kill you?”

  “Not exactly. Honestly, it was a bit jumbled what he was saying, but from what I understood, someone else was pulling the strings and Tom was forced to dance to their tune.”

  “So you think Tom was innocent?”

  “No. I think he was guilty of allowing some bad things to happen but I know he didn’t mean for situations to go that far. Tom was a good man who made some bad judgments. That makes far more sense than the idea that Tom was a rotten apple.”

  Jaci shook her head, unable to process everything at once. She sat on the edge of the bed while Nathan finished dressing. “So...what are you saying? Tom wasn’t the bad guy?” she asked plaintively and Nathan cast her a sharp, disapproving glance.

  “Well, now we’re back to square one,” she said, frustrated. “Where are we supposed to start if Tom wasn’t the one calling the shots?” Her eyes welled up and she couldn’t help herself. “What are we supposed to do now?”

  “Jase, don’t fall apart on me now.” He gripped her by the shoulders and peered into her eyes with a hard stare. “I need you sharp. I know this is a lot to take in but I think I have an idea of who shot Tom.”

  She stared. “You do? How?”

  “Tom was hit by a sniper and at pretty long range. My guess is that someone from ID, someone with plenty of long-range sniper experience, made the hit. Which means there’s more than one bad egg running around the department.”

  “I don’t see how that helps. How many people do you have working for ID? There have to be hundreds. What are you going to do, question every single employee to find who might’ve done this?”

  “I don’t need to question every employee. There’s only one I need to question.”

  “Who?”

  “Miko.” Jaci’s mouth gaped open. He nodded at her shock, still reeling from the gut hunch himself. “There were two people working at ID who excelled in long-range hits. Me and Miko. When Miko went out on a medical that left only me. When we saw him the other day there was something about his behavior that threw me off. His microexpressions kept telling a different story than what his mouth was saying. I didn’t want to believe it—I was too focused on the possibility that Tom was the one ordering the hit that I ignored my gut instinct.”

  “I don’t understand. Miko is your friend. Why would he want to hurt you?”

  “He didn’t hurt me. He hurt Tom. I suspect he hadn’t expected that I would be there with Tom tonight but even so the bullet is still lodged in Tom’s brain. Someone less experienced might’ve picked the wrong caliber bullet and I might’ve gotten hit as well. I’m almost positive it was Miko. The question is why.”

  “Do you think Miko lied about the medical discharge?” she asked. “Do you think he’s been working on the side under the radar for someone within ID?”

  “I don’t know. But I know he was paranoid about something. The only way to find out is to ask him.”

  “Are you crazy?” she exclaimed, unable to believe he would make such a foolish suggestion. “What is with you wanting to go and talk to the people who you think are trying to kill you? One of these days those people are going to succeed. I say we go to Mexico. I have my passport—we can be out of here and sitting on a sunny beach by tomorrow morning.”

  “I’m not leaving until I know what happened. No one is forcing me from the life I worked hard to build. I’m not running.”

  Frustration and fear caused her voice to rise as she stomped her foot for being unable to get through to him. “Don’t you want a life together?” she asked. “Don’t you think that all this macho crap is unrealistic in the long term? Sometimes the bad guys get away. That’s life. I’d rather continue breathing and be called a coward than be dead and be on the right side of an argument.”

  “I know you can’t possibly understand. And I’m not asking you to. I’m not even asking you to stay and wait for me. All I’m saying is that I can’t run. I’m going to find out who’s behind all this corruption and take them down. One way or another.”

  Jaci’s eyes welled again and she wanted to throw something at him. Stubborn man! “Do my feelings count at all in this?”

  Nathan’s jaw hardened and he looked away. “I’ve made my decision. I’m sorry it doesn’t gel with what you think is right. But the bottom line is that I’m willing to pay the ultimate price for doing what is right. We don’t know how far this corruption goes. How many more innocent lives might go down because I did not take the risk? I can’t live with that. And if you knew what I lived with under a normal basis you wouldn’t ask me to.”

  Shame crept up Jaci’s neck and she swallowed when she felt it was choking her. He was right. She was being selfish. If more innocent people died, she’d never be able to forgive herself. “I love you, Nathan,” she said miserably. “I don’t want to lose you and it seems at every turn there’s the certainty of death or breaking up!”

  His expression softened and he caressed her cheek. “I’ll do my best to come back to you. But if I don’t, don’t wait. Take your passport and go. Find those sunny beaches in Mexico and live the way that you were meant to. It’s my fault that your life has been compromised and I never wanted this for you. Protecting you has been my primary mission and if I fail at that, I might as well take a bullet to the head because life wouldn’t be worth living.”

  “Don’t you say your goodbyes. Not yet.” Jaci wiped her eyes, her gaze narrowing as she pulled herself together by the thinnest margins. “Fine. You’re off to go chase the bad guys, then I’m going to chase them with you. I’d rather die with you than live a lifetime alone without you.”

  “Jaci, you don’t know what you’re saying...”

  “Like hell I don’t. I know what I want in life and if you’re telling me this is what you need to do in order to start a new life with me, then let’s get it over with. Hopefully, when it’s all over, we both end up on the other side—alive.”

  * * *

  Nathan couldn’t believe the strength of this woman. He cupped her face and drew her in for a kiss. “I hate the idea of you in harm’s way. Don’t you get that I would do anything to protect you?”

  She held his stare as a slow smile crept across her face. “Then you’d better teach me how to shoot a gun. I want to be armed and dangerous, too.”

  “You little vixen, that’s the hottest thing I’ve ever heard you say,” he said, capturing her mouth again in a hard kiss. Their tongues tangled in a brutal and almost violent dance and when they broke apart, they were both breathing heavily. Her eyes glittered with desire and he could barely contain his urge to simply throw her down and yank her clothes off. But her idea was solid. She needed to know how to protect herself and he was the best person to teach her. “I think that’s a great idea,” he said, pulling her to her feet.

  He settled in behind her, swallowing a groan when her pert rear end pressed into his groin, momentarily distracting him from his true purpose. Using his .45 caliber semiautomatic Glock for demonstration, he quickly emptied the chamber and removed the magazine, then he showed her how to disengage the safety and how to properly place her hands. “Keep your finger outside the trigger guard,” he instructed her softly. “We don’t want any accidents. Don’t put your finger on the trigger until you’re ready to shoot.”

  “Like this?” she asked, cocking her head to the side as she concentrated. He c
aught a whiff of her unique scent and he closed his eyes against the assault on his senses. “It’s heavier than I imagined it would be,” she admitted. “Does your arm ever get tired lugging this thing around?”

  “I didn’t even notice the weight. I’ve carried much heavier.” Talking guns and having a beautiful woman pressed up against him were wreaking havoc on his resolve. Even as he tried to remain focused, his penis hadn’t received the memo that it wasn’t playtime. Within seconds an erection had begun to grow behind his zipper. He cleared his throat and tried to focus. “The magazine goes in like this,” he slapped the magazine into the end of the gun. “Now wrap your other hand around the other side of the frame, so that you align your two thumbs to point downrange. Pay attention, this is important. Make sure both thumbs clear the slide or hammer. You don’t want to get hurt firing your own gun.”

  She glanced up at him. “Has that ever happened to you?” she asked.

  “No,” he said. “But I saw it happen to a guy in basic training. It was funnier than hell.”

  “Probably wasn’t funny to him.”

  He shrugged. “Probably not. I think it broke his thumb. One thing’s for sure, he never did that again.” He positioned his hands on her hips. “Now widen your stance a little and don’t lock your legs. You want to have a little bit of bend to your legs, otherwise you could pass out. Balance is very important. Now, with a firm grip on the gun, go ahead and take aim. You want to line the front sight with the rear sight using your dominant eye and closing the other one. You got that?”

  She nodded.

  “You want to aim for center mass. You should see the sharply focused front sight as your main focus. Now when you go to fire, if you can, time it with that of your breath. Take a breath, let out half and then squeeze the trigger.” She followed his instruction and fired an empty round.

  She turned to him and smiled. “That wasn’t so bad. It was actually kind of fun.”

  He grinned. “Well, let’s see how you do with actual bullets in the gun. Also, most people aren’t prepared for the sound of the shot and it startles them. For first timers, it can be a little jarring. My hope is that you won’t have to use it but I feel a little better knowing that I’ve at least shown you the basics.”

  “I hope I never am forced to shoot a person but I will if I have to.”

  He nodded in approval. “That’s my girl. Don’t hesitate because they won’t hesitate to kill you. Do you understand?”

  She nodded gravely. He tipped her head back and sealed his mouth to hers and removed the gun from her fingers. “That concludes the lesson on how to defend yourself against the bad guys,” he said as she turned in his arms. He tossed the gun onto the bed and then filled his palms with a generous squeeze of her luscious behind. She hopped into his arms and he groaned when she rubbed her hot core against his midsection. “Woman, you are so perfect. Packing heat with a body that could stop a man’s heart.... How did I get so damn lucky?”

  “Less talk, more action,” she demanded in an impatient breathy tone, slanting her mouth over his as she pulled his shirt free from his body. “That’s an order, soldier.”

  “Roger that,” he grinned as they tumbled to the bed. Tonight he was going to forget about tomorrow and simply love this incredible woman. And judging by the way she was moaning with pleasure, she was totally on board with that idea.

  Tomorrow would come soon enough—and with it, only God knew what.

  Chapter 21

  Nathan spent the morning surveilling Miko and in the late afternoon followed him to the bar. Both Nathan and Jaci slipped through the back door and quickly went up the stairs. For some reason Miko’s hired thug wasn’t on duty. That in itself, Nathan found odd. Given how paranoid Miko had been the last time they’d spoken, Nathan found the absence of the guard troubling.

  “Going somewhere?” Nathan asked when he saw Miko shoving papers into a briefcase. That explained no guard. Miko wasn’t planning to stick around. “So how much of that horse shit that you told me was actually true?”

  Miko startled when he saw Nathan and Jaci, his bloodshot eyes not those of a healthy man and Nathan felt a pang for his old friend. “I wanted out,” Miko said. “That part was true.”

  “What’s going on?” Nathan peered at his friend, needing the truth. “Come on, man, we didn’t go through so much to end like this.”

  Miko shook his head, as if overwhelmed by impossible choices and continued to shove papers into his briefcase. “It started off so easy to justify. And the money was good—too good. But what can I say? There are no good excuses for what I’ve done. And now it’s all fallen to shit. I should’ve known I was taking a devil’s bargain.”

  “Why, Miko?” Nathan didn’t bother pretending. Miko knew why Nathan was there. “What the hell are you mixed up with?”

  Miko barked a short laugh, the sound desperate as he fell into his chair and regarded Nathan with something akin to fatal respect. “You were smart. You started asking questions. I didn’t. And when a job came my way that sounded wrong, the deal was sweetened with more money. And I took it. You’re not that kind of person. And they know it and that’s why you had to go. It was supposed to be a murder-suicide. Clean, no questions asked. They were going to falsify your military records, insert some instabilities so no one would question when you snapped and killed your girlfriend and shot yourself. It was messed up and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. Because by that point I was already in too deep.”

  “Who ordered the hit on Tom?” Nathan asked. “I thought Tom was in charge but I was wrong, wasn’t I?”

  “She’s everywhere. She’s got eyes in the sky—she’s got ears on the street. There is no escaping her reach. And if she wants you dead, it’s gonna happen. Tom, the poor old bastard, became a liability. The minute he tried to stop what she wanted with you, he got put on the list.”

  Nathan took a step forward. “Who the hell are you talking about? What list?” he demanded to know. “Who is this woman?” Tom had mentioned a woman, as well. “Are there more people on her hit list?”

  “She’s the freaking devil,” Miko answered with a defeated smile. “And when she owns your soul, there is no getting out. But I’m tired. I’m so tired, Nathan. I used to be a good guy. I was one of the good guys,” he said with a sudden show of passion. “I saved lives, damn it. We both did. When did it all change?”

  Nathan shared a look with Jaci, frustrated. “I can’t help you if I don’t know who I’m fighting. Tell me, and I’ll bring the bitch down.”

  “She probably has my office bugged. She doesn’t trust anyone, not even the people who hide her dirty secrets.” Miko’s gaze roamed his office. “I always wanted to own a bar. I thought there was something nostalgic and cool about being a pub owner. But just like anything, it’s all an illusion. It sucks as much as anything else. There’s nothing golden anymore.”

  “So what are you going to do, bug out? Run like a coward?” Nathan asked, angry. “You can help fix this. You could make it right. You have a chance to be the good guy again.”

  At that, Miko chuckled. “I love you, man. But you don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s no going back from what I’ve done. I have blood on my hands.”

  “We all have blood on our hands. That’s just the way it is. We were soldiers. We did the work no one else wanted. And when we took the job with ID, when we thought we were doing the right thing—once again we did the jobs that no one else could do. Don’t turn this around. Not every assignment was rigged. I know that in my heart.”

  Miko squeezed his eyes shut and tears leaked around the closed lids. “I’m sorry, man. I never wanted it to end like this. I liked playing the hero. It felt good. Tromping around the desert of Iraq, facing down insurgents and dodging IEDs felt a hell of a lot better than this moment right now. That time spent in hell was just practice
for what’s going down right now.”

  “Give me a name.”

  Miko reached into his drawer and withdrew his gun. Nathan stilled, his hand going to his own weapon. “What are you doing?” he asked, a sliver of dread curling around his spine. “Don’t,” he warned.

  “If anyone can stop her...maybe it’s you,” Miko said softly. He caught Nathan’s gaze and held it a heartbeat. “Look more deeply into Tessara Pharm,” he said, before tipping his head back and blowing a hole through his chin.

  * * *

  Jaci screamed as everything happened in slow motion. Nathan sprang for the gun a second too late before the bullet ripped through Miko’s flesh, splattering brain matter against the wall. She turned away before she threw up, drawing in deep gasping breaths as shock began to eat away at her ability to remain upright. Before she knew it, Nathan’s grip bit into her arm as he dragged her away from the scene and down the stairs as they fled to the truck.

  “What happened? I don’t understand why he would do that,” Jaci moaned, her teeth beginning to chatter. “I...I...didn’t see it coming,” she said, grinding her eyes to wipe away the image stuck there. She would never sleep again as long as that memory remained fresh. Tears began to fall as a reflex and she couldn’t stop even though she tried. Soon enough her shoulders were racked by deep, ugly sobs that seemed to come from her stomach. She braced herself on the dash as she tried to get ahold of herself but she was quickly losing her grip. “I don’t want to see anyone else die!”

  “Jaci! Listen to me. You’re going into shock. Take a deep breath and focus on calming your breathing. You can do this.” He navigated the city streets with one eye on the road and one on her and the fact that she was disintegrating without being able to stop the deterioration scared her even worse. The air squeezed from her lungs as she fought to breathe and black dots danced before her eyes. “I-I-I c-c-can’t breathe!” she managed to gasp and she vaguely heard Nathan curse as he wrenched the wheel to detour down a side street and then duck into an alley. He slammed the brakes and caught her just as she lost consciousness.